ATLANTIC, IA – Produce in the Park June 16 will offer all sorts of activities and delicious food. This Thursday, the Nishna Valley Family YMCA will be at the park with two bounce houses for kids and adultsized tricycles for teens and adults. But the YMCA won’t be the only organization offering bicycling fun at the farmers market.

The Atlantic Elks will be hosting a Bike Rodeo for kids at Produce in the Park June 16. The bike rodeo will offer kids the chance to participate in bike obstacle courses and win small prizes. Kids are encouraged to bring their bikes, trikes, and helmets to the park. Don’t have a bike? The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department will be at Produce in the Park with a few rental bikes and helmets for kids to use for free (not to mention lots of fun yard games for both kids and adults).

Lastly, Nishna Valley Trails will be at the market sharing Cass County trails maps and other information on biking in Cass County. In addition to the bike activities, yard games, and bounce houses, this week visitors to Produce in the Park will enjoy Hungry Spartan Pizza food truck and lots of rhubarb. The Guest Chef will be offering free taste tests of fresh rhubarb and rhubarb cobbler, and vendors will be selling rhubarb jams, pastries, crisps, and more.

Other products expected at the June 16 market include popcorn and lemonade, early season produce such as green onions, asparagus, spinach, and other greens, lots of local meats (beef, pork, and lamb), farm-fresh eggs, honey, soaps, candles, jewelry, wood crafts, greeting cards, and plants for your home  garden.

DETAILS….Produce in the Park June 16:
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: Atlantic City Park (10 W. 7th Street, Atlantic, IA 50022)

Food Truck: Hungry Spartan Pizza
Free Live Music: Sarah Selders
Products: Produce, meats, eggs, honey, baked goods and desserts, popcorn and lemonade, soaps,
candles, greeting cards, wood crafts, and more.
Featured Food: Rhubarb! Fresh rhubarb, rhubarb jams, rhubarb pastries, free samples of rhubarb
cobbler from the Guest Chef, and more.
Activities: Bounce houses and bike rodeo for kids; yard games for all!
Visiting organizations: Atlantic Parks and Recreation, Cass County Master Gardeners, Cass County Chapter of the American Cancer Society, Nishna Valley Trails, Nishna Valley Family YMCA.
Self-Care Summer Organization: Zion Integrated Behavioral Health Services
Free drawing: 1 dozen farm-fresh eggs from Brun Ko Farm. (Sponsored by the Cass County Local Food Policy Council.)

Payment methods accepted: All vendors accept cash. Many accept credit card and Venmo. All qualifying food vendors accept SNAP/EBT (also known as food stamps). All fresh produce vendors both accept and distribute Double Up Food Bucks (coupons given for SNAP/EBT purchases of fresh produce).

Produce in the Park June 2022 farmers markets are sponsored by the Atlantic Community Promotion Commission, the Nishna Valley Family YMCA, Cass County Tourism, Cass Health, First Whitney Bank and Trust, the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, and Deter Motor Co. For updates on Produce in the Park, follow Produce in the Park on Facebook
(www.facebook.com/ProduceInThePark) or Instagram (www.instagram.com/produceintheparkatlanticia/), or visit the Produce in the Park website to sign up for the e-newsletter at www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com.

(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowa farmers had to replant following rain and hail last week. The U-S-D-A report shows the corn planting was completed by the end of the week and just three percent of the beans remain to be planted. There were some reports however of pockets of heavy rain and isolated severe hail that led to farmers replanting some damaged crops. Ninety-five percent of the corn has emerged and the report says 86 percent of the corn crop is rated good to excellent condition. Eighty-four percent of soybeans have emerged — with 82 percent of the beans rated good to excellent.

(Radio Iowa) – An attorney for the Iowa Utilities Board says the staff is reviewing several items in Carbon Solutions’ proposal to construct approximately 681 miles of pipeline through Iowa to carry liquefied carbon dioxide. A couple of people spoke during the public comment period of the I-U-B meeting about pipeline concerns. Cynthia Hansen and her siblings own a century farm in Shelby County in western Iowa.

“We have landowners who are being what we considered harassed by the land agents who are showing up multiple times when they’ve already been told know that the landowner is not interested in signing for voluntary easements,” she says. Hansen had another concern as well. “We have surveyors who are showing up even though landowners have not signed or have not received proper notice, and have not accepted proper notice through the U-S mail. And we would like to see that stopped,” Hansen says.

She says two people have told her that their elderly family members in the nursing home have been approached multiple times by landowners or land agents, even though they have told them no. I-U-B chair Geri Huser told Hansen there is a way to deal with these issues. “You have the right to file in the docket if there are situations that are arising that you believe are outside the statutory framework for proceeding of this type,” Huser says. She says the Board’s legal counsel would then review those filings to make a determination on how to proceed.

“Whether or not there’s any jurisdiction that the Iowa Utilities Board has to take action related to those complaints or situations that are arising,” she said. Hansen and another speaker asked about the number of landowners involved and how to get that information. They also expressed concern that last-minute changes would not allow them to take action before the proceedings began. Huser said they can talk with the I-U-B staff and get an update on the landowners, and the Board’s attorney said they will have all the information updated before moving forward.

ATLANTIC, IA – Bridgewater Farm lost thousands of plants in last week’s hailstorm; the farm was  devastated. This is a loss not only in the Atlantic area (Bridgewater Farm is a produce vendor at Produce  in the Park), but across the state; Bridgewater Farm is Iowa’s largest organic farm. The losses were so  significant that Channel 13 News out of Des Moines did a story on the damage. The farm’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/BridgewaterFamilyFarm/, links to the story and shows many photos of the destruction.

Dale Raasch indicates how tall these tomato plants were before the June hailstorm hit Bridgewater Farm.jpg

Looking through photos of thousands upon thousands of destroyed plants can leave one asking, “What  could I possibly do to help?” Bridgewater Farm has an answer. The community is now being invited to  help with replanting this Wednesday, June 16, at 9:00 AM at Bridgewater Farm (2409 Brown Ave., Bridgewater, IA 50837). There is no need to RSVP for the volunteer day, but participants may want to bring a dish to share at the lunch potluck, along with a lawn chair.

Volunteers should wear clothes that can get dirty. Bridgewater Farm is expecting a few news stations to attend the event.
Produce in the Park thanks customers for supporting Bridgewater Farm and understanding that the farm  may not have as much produce as they’d expect at the farmers market over the next month or so, as  they rebuild and regrow.

Chris Parks and Cass/Adair County Conservation Officer Grant Gelly talk all things outdoors. This week they discuss young wildlife, turkey harvest numbers, new fishing atlas updates, and an odd local celebrity squirrel.

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WILLEY, Iowa —Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, on Friday (today), followed up on an anonymous tip received Thursday night indicating manure was discharging from the Wendl Feedlot about 6.5 miles south of Carroll. When notified, feedlot owner Brian Wendl left his vacation and drove 900 miles overnight to oversee containing and cleaning up the runoff.

Friday morning, DNR staff found runoff leaving several locations from a saturated field, flowing into a tributary of Willey Creek. The discharge occurred when the field became saturated following an attempt to dewater a basin used to contain manure.

DNR staff found elevated ammonia levels in the tributary at the field, but considerably lower levels a mile downstream. The tributary flows into Willey Creek and then into the Middle Raccoon. There were no signs of dead fish. And the stream was running high after about three inches of rain in the last few days.

Wendl was constructing a berm along the stream to stop runoff. DNR is sending water samples to a laboratory for testing. Staff will monitor the cleanup and containment. DNR will consider appropriate enforcement action.

(Radio Iowa) – Beef producers in Iowa and New York are in the midst of a burger battle. Kylie Peterson, spokeswoman for the Iowa Beef Industry Council, says carnivores in both states are being encouraged to log on and cast a ballot for their favorite burger. Peterson says, “This is just a fun way to put together two states that have a similar goal and that is to promote beef.” Over the past few months, Iowans got the chance to vote on their favorite burgers, as did New Yorker’s. The winners of the respective state contests are now going head-to-head, or bun-to-bun.

“We’re putting the two together in a little mini contest that’s for bragging rights only,” Peterson says. “There’s no prize or anything like that. It’s just a fun way to capitalize on our contests that we’ve already had.” The contest ends Monday night and Iowans can vote on the website I-A-beef-dot-org.

“The Flying Elbow in Marshalltown is featuring the Tombstone Burger which includes a blend of chuck brisket and short rib and it has also Wagyu beef that’s raised by a Marshalltown producer,” Peterson says. “And then the Ale ‘n Angus Pub burger is called the Holy Smokers Burger and it is an eight ounce certified Angus beef patty that’s topped with smoked beef brisket.”

This is the second year for the contest. New York challenged Iowa last year — and Iowa won. The winner will be announced on Tuesday.

(Radio Iowa) – Plans for a major expansion project at a beef processing plant in Tama County are now on hold indefinitely due to high construction costs. Iowa Premium had announced plans to replace its current beef processing facility in Tama with a bigger plant in 2021. In a filing with the state, the company announced that it planned to hire 400 additional workers by the end of 2024, bringing its total workforce to more than 1,200.

Company officials announced Thursday that the current facility will continue to function at normal capacity where nearly 800 people are presently employed. The company plans to further review the status of the expansion at a later time.

(Bridgewater, Iowa) – The hail storm that passed through Cass and area Counties Tuesday evening stripped trees of leaves and decimated an Adair County organic vegetable farm. Bridgewater Farm is the largest organic vegetable farm in Iowa. It has 25 acres of vegetables. Owner Dale Raasch reports almost all of his outdoor produce was lost during an approximately 10-minute burst of hail and heavy rain.

The hail, whipped by approximately 80 mph winds caused damage that was estimated at $150,000.  Raasch said he did not have insurance on the specialty farm. He estimates the losses from strawberries alone to be $32,000. On the Bridgewater Farms Facebook page, Dale Raasch said “We have received donated transplants to replant, some have offered to volunteer their time and energy and the amazing monetary donations that will help mitigate the losses of all the seed costs, labor and infrastructure, not to mention the potential profits lost. Thank you all for giving us hope.”

Lettuce

Beets

Garlic

In addition, a Go Fund Me page has been established, that (as of early Friday morning), had raised more than $88-hundred dollars. Replacement plants are on their way to the farm, and new seeding has begun. (Photos from the BF Facebook page show some of the many different vegetables that were lost to the storm)

(Radio Iowa) – One of the largest employers in Clinton is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Governor Kim Reynolds and other officials joined A-D-M leaders Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the company’s corn processing plant purchase from Nabisco. Plant Manager Eric Fasnacht says A-D-M has significantly expanded the plant in the four decades — and it currently processes 350 thousand bushels of corn a day from local farmers and elevators. That works out to between 400 and 500 truckloads a day.

“Separate the corn kernel into its fractions – we make different kinds of corn sweetener, dry starches, crystalline sugars, and feed components that go out to the animal food or feed industry,” he says. There are around one thousand employees in the plant every day from A-D-M and local contractors. The company also celebrated the opening of a new mill to process corn that cost 250 million dollars. And Fasnact says the company will continue to invest in Clinton.

“We’re looking at even another project that’ll be starting here in the fall with a Japanese company that we’re partnering with on another big project, so we’ll see some of that starting to happen later this year, ” Fasnact says. Hiring for that joint project has already started. He says a corn processing facility first opened in Clinton back in the early 1900’s, and Nabisco is believed to have purchased the plant in the 1950’s and run it until selling to A-D-M in 1982.